


how come i'm blushing?

by OfMythsAndMen



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 11:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20506601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfMythsAndMen/pseuds/OfMythsAndMen
Summary: “Can I kiss you?” Richie whispers, gazing into the smaller boy’s eyes.“Please.” Eddie begs, and Richie does.who would have known that a spilled coffee would lead to richie's first kiss?





	how come i'm blushing?

The boy in the corner is definitely not the only reason that Richie goes to the on-campus coffee shop. Not at all.

He likes coffee—well, actually, that’s a lie. He hates coffee. But the hot chocolates here are the some of the best he’s ever had—and it’s a good place to study. That’s why he goes there. The good looking boy who always sits in the booth in the corner is just an added bonus.

It’s nothing to do with the fact that the campus coffee shop is the only place that this boy seems to frequent, because Richie has never seen him anywhere else on campus, and it’s not creepy that Richie knows the boy’s drink order, either. The table closest to the cashier is just where he likes to sit, and he could probably parrot the orders of most of the people here.

And, despite what his friends believe, Richie does not have a crush on the boy. He doesn’t even know his name for goodness sake, so there’s not way that Richie wants to be in a relationship with him. Sure, he gets butterflies when they make eye contact across the room, but that’s just because Richie has never seen anyone so good looking before and acknowledging that the boy is good looking doesn’t mean that Richie has a crush on him. Bev is good looking, too, but he’s sure as hell not lusting after her. She’s with Ben and he respects that.

Richie looks at his computer screen, at the essay he’s supposed to be writing, but he’s barely read a sentence before his eyes flick up to the corner booth. The boy is typing furiously, with his mouth pressed into a straight line and his eyes narrowed, and it’s kind of adorable. Richie wishes that he could have that kind of focus. Every time Richie looks down at his laptop screen, something compels him to look up into the corner. Looking at the boy is better than looking at the wall in his room, though, so Richie stays put.

He’s eventually able to tear his gaze away and type out a few sentences, making himself keep his gaze on his laptop screen as the boy gets up to order coffee. Staring at him across the room is creepy enough, let alone when he’s right beside him.

But had he been looking, maybe he would’ve seen the coffee cup coming, instead of being surprised when it hits his back, the hot liquid quickly seeping through Richie’s jacket. Yelping, Richie tugs it off, tossing it to the floor where a few feet away, the boy is sprawled, staring at the puddle of coffee under Richie’s chair in dismay.

“I tripped,” is all he says when Richie meets his eye, getting up to help the boy to his feet. “Sorry for getting coffee on your jacket and your backpack. Are you burned?”

Richie shakes his head. “I’m fine, it barely soaked through,” he says. “But your chin is bleeding. What did you even trip on?”

“Not sure,” the boy shrugs, grabbing a napkin which he holds to his chin. “Do you have a bandaid?”

“Not on me,” Richie says. “But I have some in my dorm if you want to come with me? I need to get changed and sort my backpack out, anyway.”

The boy agrees to go once they’ve helped the employees clean up most of the coffee, so they hurry and clean up most of it using as many napkins as they can. The boy volunteers to carry Richie’s laptop and books since Richie can’t put them in his coffee-soaked backpack.

The trek across campus is slightly awkward, with neither part really knowing what to say. The boy still hasn’t introduced himself, so Richie doesn’t even know his name. But then Richie realises that he hasn’t introduced himself either, so that’s what he does.

“I’m Richie by the way,” he says as they reach his dorm. “Richie Tozier.”

“Eddie Kaspbrak,” the boy says. “What are you majoring in?”

“Performing arts,” Richie says, rooting through the medicine cabinet in his and Stan’s bathroom for bandaids and antiseptic wipes. “You?”

“English lit,” Eddie sits down on the stool that Richie drags in, wincing as Richie presses a wipe to his scrape, cleaning away the blood.

“Do you enjoy it?”

“It’s alright, I guess. But I’m not sure if it’s quite _me,_” Eddie shrugs. “I’m going to stick at it, though; I’m good at it.”

“Leaves you with a lot of avenues once you graduate,” Richie notes, finishing with wiping away the blood on Eddie’s chin. “Okay. What bandaid do you want? I’ve got ones with dinosaurs on them, or regular ones.”

“Just a regular one please,” Eddie laughs, and it’s an adorable laugh. Richie doesn’t know how to describe it, but it’s one of the best sounds that he’s ever heard. He hurries to put the bandaid on. “But let me know where you got the dinosaur ones from, and I might pick up a pack for the less obvious scrapes I get.”

“Walmart is your best friend,” Richie says. “Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with dinosaurs on your chin. If it wasn’t for Stan, we wouldn’t even have the regular ones so count yourself lucky.”

“Tell him I said thanks,” Eddie laughs again, making the butterflies in Richie’s stomach erupt. They make eye contact, and it’s as if the breath has been sucked from Richie’s lungs, and time seems to stop until Eddie speaks again. “So,” he says. “What brings you to the coffee shop so often? You’re there almost every day.”

“Coffee,” Richie says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“But you never order a coffee,” Eddie raises his eyebrows. Richie’s cheeks start to burn. How would Eddie know his order? Sure, Richie knows Eddie’s, but he sits right by the register. “You get hot chocolate with cream and extra sprinkles.”

“You’ve got me there,” Richie tries to laugh his shock off, opening the cabinet to return the wipes and bandaids to their rightful place.

“So what actually brings you there, Richie Tozier?”

“You,” the word tumbles out before Richie can stop it, and he stares into the medicine cabinet, not wanting to turn around and see the expression on Eddie’s face. It’s so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and Richie doesn’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.

If he was Eddie, he’d run. Be out of Richie’s dorm in less than thirty seconds. Spilled coffee or not, they’re still strangers, and Richie has pretty much confessed to stalking Eddie, because when he thinks about it that’s all it really is. And what his friends were saying is right; Eddie was the only reason that he went to that coffee shop, and he does have a crush.

But when he eventually turns around, Eddie is staring up at him and the expression isn’t a bad one. He looks almost happy. There’s a small smile of his face, and a knowing look in his eyes.

“And I was there for you,” Eddie says, and those words take a few seconds to process in Richie’s brain.

Eddie stands up, moving forward until the tips of his shoes are touching Richie’s.

“Can I kiss you?” Richie whispers, gazing into the smaller boy’s eyes.

“Please,” Eddie begs, and Richie does.

He closes his eyes and leans forward. Eddie’s lips are soft. Softer than Richie could have ever imagined, and it feels as if he’s floating. As is time has stopped once more, and it’s only the two of them in the world with no worries, no cares, and nothing but each other.

And Richie just wants to keep kissing, but they eventually pull apart to catch their breath. Even though it's ended, he still feels as if he's on cloud nine.

“That was good,” Eddie says breathlessly.

“Yeah, it was.”

Eddie checks his watch. “I’m late for my lecture,” he says, moving away from Richie who feels himself deflate. “But, um, are you busy tonight?”

“No.”

“Would you like to go out to dinner?” Eddie asks, and Richie nods enthusiastically. “I’m sure it’ll be better staring at me across a table than from the other side of a coffee shop.”

“Yeah,” Richie laughs. “It will.”

The pair of them move to the front door, where they pause again. Eddie stands on his tiptoes, pressing a quick kiss to Richie’s cheek.

“I hope you get the coffee out of your backpack and jacket,” he says, almost sheepishly. “I’m still sorry about that, by the way.”

“It’s fine,” Richie waves off Eddie’s apology with one hand. He grins. “It was worth it.”

He watches the blond boy disappear down the hall, waving goodbye as he rounds the corner.

It wasn’t exactly the way that Richie had planned to have his first interaction with the boy, and he has to hope that his backpack and jacket won’t eternally smell of coffee now, but like he’d told Eddie. It was most definitely worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i'm charleigh! I hope you all enjoy this work, and that you are having/had a good day!
> 
> tumblr:[ of-myths-and-men](https://of-myths-and-men.tumblr.com/)


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